Colour Coding for Queens
There is a defined colour coding for marking queens to show the year of their birth over a five years period – see below. The numbers in the column denote the last digit in the year i.e. ‘1’ denotes 2021 etc.
| COLOUR | YEARS | MEMORY JOGGERS | ||
| White | 1 | 6 | Will | Which |
| Yellow | 2 | 7 | You | Year |
| Red | 3 | 8 | Raise | Reared in |
| Green | 4 | 9 | Good | Great |
| Blue | 5 | 0 | Bees | Britain |
January
- Oxalic/lactic acid treatment for Varroa
- Heft to check stores
February
- ‘Heft’ to check stores – emergency feeding?
- Check hive entrances – clear/predator damage
- Prepare new frames of foundation
March
- ‘Heft’ to check stores – emergency feeding?
- Check, repair / replace brood boxes/floors/queen excluders and general cleaning up.
- Hive records – get the new sheets/book all ready
- First inspection (only if warm and not too windy)
- Queen clipping and marking? (only if warm enough)
April
- Regular hive inspections – check for queen, space, stores, swarming, varroa and disease
- If varroa treatment required, complete before adding Supers
- Move old and empty Brood frames to edges for replacement
- Ensure enough space for rapid Brood nest expansion
- Replace old Brood frames – Bailey comb change etc
- Ensure equipment for artificial swarming ready
- Oil Seed Rape flow – add? Super in plenty of time
May
- Weekly inspections – look closely for queen cells
- Supering – add another when bees are on 75% of frames
- Remove and extract rape honey as soon as ripe
- Monitor Varroa
June
- Check for sufficient Stores for bees to make it through the June Gap
- Weekly inspections – look closely for queen cells, varroa and disease
July
- Main honey flow – check regularly for sufficient space in Supers
- Extracting your beautiful honey crop at end of month!
- Order preferred treatment for varroa
August
- Reduce entrances 2 to 3 bee spaces to reduce wasp attacks
- Varroa treatment from end of first week
- Clean supers for storage
- Unite small colonies
September
- Remove varroa treatments
- Swap positions of Super and Brood boxes – if preferred?
- Estimate stores and feed syrup for winter
October
- Check enough stores for winter
- Fit mouse guards and woodpecker nets
- Monitor varroa drop
- Sort and clean spare equipment for storage
November
- Check entrances are clear
- Sterilise and mend stored equipment
- Order oxalic acid
December
- ‘Heft’ hive to estimate whether sufficient Stores
- Check hive entrances – clear/predator damage
- Put your feet up and enjoy Christmas!